Monica Mary Grady, CBE (born 15 July 1958 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK), is a leading British space scientist, primarily known for her work on meteorites. She is currently Professor of Planetary and Space Science at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's underg ...

and is also the

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Liverpool Hope University , mottoeng=Hope to all who need it , established=1844 – Saint Katharine's College (as Warrington Training College)1856 – Notre Dame College (as Our Lady's Training College)1964 – Christ's College1979 – Liverpool Institute of Higher Edu ...

Early life

Monica Grady is the oldest of eight children and the daughter of teachers. She attended Notre Dame Collegiate School for Girls in Leeds, prior to it becoming Notre Dame Grammar School and then later

Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College Notre Dame is a Sixth Form College in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The college is situated on Saint Mark's Avenue, near to the engineering departments of the University of Leeds in Woodhouse, Leeds. It is near the (formerly C of E) St Mark' ...

, as a pupil of Form Sherwin.

Career

Grady graduated from the

University of Durham , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_cha ...

in 1979, where she was a student at St Aidan's College then went on to complete a PhD on carbon in stony meteorites at

Darwin College, Cambridge Darwin College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded on 28 July 1964, Darwin was Cambridge University's first graduate-only college, and also the first to admit both men and women. The college is named after one of th ...

in 1982 where she studied under Professor

Colin Pillinger Colin Trevor Pillinger, (; 9 May 1943 – 7 May 2014) was an English planetary scientist. He was a founding member of the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute at Open University in Milton Keynes, he was also the principal invest ...

and also met her husband. Grady has formerly been based at the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

, where she curated the UK's national collection of meteorites. She has built up an international reputation in meteoritics, publishing many papers on the

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon ma ...

and

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

isotope geochemistry of primitive meteorites, on

Martian meteorites A Martian meteorite is a rock that formed on Mars, was ejected from the planet by an impact event, and traversed interplanetary space before landing on Earth as a meteorite. , 277 meteorites had been classified as Martian, less than half a p ...

, and on interstellar components of meteorites. Grady was appointed a Fellow of the

Meteoritical Society The Meteoritical Society is a non-profit scholarly organization founded in 1933 to promote research and education in planetary science with emphasis on studies of meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials that further our understanding of the ...

in 2000, a Fellow of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physic ...

in 2012 and a Fellow of the

Geochemical Society The Geochemical Society is a nonprofit scientific organization founded to encourage the application of chemistry to solve problems involving geology and cosmology. The society promotes understanding of geochemistry through the annual Goldschmidt Co ...

in 2015 (these are honorary appointments, bestowed by the President and Council of each Society, following nomination by peer-scientists). She has been a Fellow of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NG ...

since 1990, and a Fellow of the

Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland began in 1876. Its main purpose is to disseminate scientific knowledge of the Mineral Sciences (mineralogy) as it may be applied to the fields of crystallography, geochemistry, petrology, envi ...

since 1992. From 2012 to 2013, she was President of the

. She was awarded the Coke Medal of the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

in 2016, for her work in science communication. Grady gave the

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sc ...

in 2003, on the subject "A Voyage in Space and Time". Asteroid (4731) was named Monicagrady in her honour. In 2010, Grady returned to Durham, spending 3 months at St Mary's College as a Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Study Grady was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to space sciences. In 2014, Grady spoke to

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

about the aims and the significance of the spacecraft ''

Rosetta Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The R ...

''. Grady said: "The biggest question that we are trying to get an answer to is: where did life on Earth come from?" A video of her highly enthusiastic reaction when Philae successfully landed on the comet was published widely around the internet on many media sources. On 31 July 2015 she appeared on Radio 4's

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...

. In July 2019, Grady was awarded an Honorary Doctorate honoris causa b
Liverpool Hope University
for her work in communication of science and faith; in January 2020, she was installed as its thir

Grady is one of the members of Euro-Cares, an EU-funded Horizon2020 project which has the aim of developing a roadmap for a European Sample Curation Facility, designed to curate precious samples returned from Solar System exploration missions to asteroids, Mars, the Moon and comets.

Personal life

Grady is a practising

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Her youngest sister, Dr Ruth Grady, is a Senior Lecturer in microbiology at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

. Grady's husband, Professor Ian Wright, is also a planetary scientist at the Open University. Ian was Principal Investigator of the Ptolemy instrument on the Philae lander, part of ESA's Rosetta spacecraft. Ian and Monica have one son, Jack Wright, who works in the film industry.

Selected bibliography

* * * *

References

External links

The Open University

Meteoritical Society

Royal Astronomical Society

Mineralogical Society of GB and Ireland

Geochemical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grady, Monica 1958 births Academics of the Open University Alumni of Darwin College, Cambridge Alumni of St Aidan's College, Durham British women scientists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Employees of the Natural History Museum, London Living people Meteorite researchers Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Planetary scientists Women planetary scientists